Keeping it Simple

Menu

Author Archives: Derrick Stanley

Following the success of ICO (Initial Coin Offerings), Binance, a China-based cryptocurrency exchange began live trading in 2017. It received huge acclaim in a short time because of its assistance to beginners in executing simple trades. It offers both beginners and professional traders with a wide variety of tools for engaging in digital assets.

Cost of using binance:

Binance is one of the most economical exchanges in recent times. This is because of its compatibility with almost every mobile and PC operating systems. Moreover, the mobile app is free to download and also creating an account in Binance is not expensive. Making deposits to binance in any supporting currency is free. You can trade in Binance at a very nominal charge and by using its own token called BNB, the transaction fees will be reduced.

It does store some user data like IP address, making people question its privacy policy.

The Android version of its mobile app is reported to be having certain troubles.

Sometimes withdrawing certain coins is delayed.

The withdrawal fees are not the same for every type of cryptocurrencies.

The Binance Coin (BNB):

Soon after launching the exchange, binance released its token called BNB. This token is used to make any kind of transactions on binance. BNB offers you great discounts ranging from 50% in the first year to 6.75% in the fourth year. These discounts will be stopped from the fifth year. Therefore, you can also use Binance to invest in certain ICOs that participate in Binance’s Launchpad program.

Cryptocurrency tumbler is often referred to as bitcoin mixing or bitcoin laundering. It is a service to break the link between cryptocurrency sending and receiving addresses. This primarily increases the anonymity of the source of cryptocurrency (Bitcoin).

Concept of Cryptocurrency Tumbler

The basic concept of cryptocurrency tumbler is similar to that of traditional money laundering. The layering of funds within the trusts or maintaining off-shore shell companies which are a major part of any financial business holds a resemblance to cryptocurrency tumbler.

Cryptocurrencies have been a revolutionary success in financial business because of many unique features like incredible anonymity, low transaction costs, quick confirmation of transactions, etc. But these awesome features come at a price. That is, every transaction is stored in a public journal and anyone with a copy of full blockchain (which is available for free), can have access to it.

To avoid this inconvenience bitcoin mixing comes handy. Bitcoin mixing helps you to disassociate any BTC you purchased using your identity. So cryptocurrency mixing companies will take your cash and distribute in the pool and randomly collect the cash from other persons in the pool and send them back to your new identity. The following are the most popular and reliable bitcoin mixing companies.

Bestmixer.io

Bestmixer.io is the most popular mixing company that works with a wide range of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Etherum, and Bitcoin cash. This actually helps you to separate your old and new transaction address by taking cash from you and delivering other peoples cash in the pool in exchange. It follows a strict security and privacy policy that removes historic transactions completely in 24 hours following your mixing conditions.

PrivCoin.io

This serves as a bitcoin tumbler and also a cryptocurrency swapper, meaning you can receive a completely different cryptocurrency which enhances anonymity. Almost no logs or personal identity details of the transaction are maintained making it one the best medium of anonymous transactions.

Bitcoin Blende

Bitcoin lender is one of the oldest and easiest Bitcoin mixers. It was launched in 2014 by an anonymous developer. It features a quick mix mode that allows users to clean Bitcoins without registering an account, thereby guaranteeing utmost security and privacy.

Today’s generation is completely based on digital transactions and hence, it is quite normal that people often prefer to travel across the borders with digital currencies as it protect their identities and also prevent them from getting robbed or any other such kind of misshappening.

The world has become borderless because of the internet and consequently, with the rise of such digitalized cryptocurrencies, many downfalls have also been caused.

Here, in this article we are going to talk about a few tips to stay safe and secure your money while traveling with cryptocurrencies.

Always Carry a Crypto Wallet for Safety

Recently, a 30 year old man travelled all around the world using crypto currencies and after talking to various media outlets, he talked about the importance of the importance of a crypto wallet such as Trezor. It enables you to carry out most of your daily transactions and provides an overall efficient security.

Carry a Multi Signature Wallet for Unwanted Emergencies

If you plan to use a crypto wallet, then it is a good idea to have a multi signature wallet for some of your emergency savings. Remind yourself of all the positive and negative things that may happen while you are travelling. Do have your digital wallet topped up properly if your phone gets stolen or you lose it somewhere. These are the kind of things you need to keep in mind while traveling with cryptocurrencies.

Try to Create a Separate Email with Your Google Voice Account

It is really very important to create a Google voice phone number as it is a good digital security habit, especially, when you are travelling with cryptocurrency. This email should be used for all your daily transactions and activities and your original account should be avoided as it might leave behind a trail, which can create you a lot of mess.

Use resources to find Cryptocurrency-friendly cities.

If you are planning to travel with cryptocurrency, it is important for you to head to an area with higher chances of accepting cryptocurrency. You can find resources online that can help to you find the places around the world which accept cryptocurrencies extensively.

Agree or not, demonetisation, which was introduced in the Indian economy back in 2016 was definitely a highlight in the history of the entire Indian economy. Be at the urge of bringing back the black money or hitting the cash deposits of illegal traders, one place which was the most affected one due to the implementation of demonetisation was the cash gifts which where supposed to be given to the newly wed brides and grooms during their reception parties.

Cryptocurrency Weddings?

This might sound funny, but it has been seen that after that incident, numerous brides and grooms were in the favour of a wedding ceremony where the gifts would be accepted digitally, mainly by cryptocurrencies. This event led to the creation of a concept known as cryptocurrency weddings.

Niti Shree and Prashant Sharma, the First Bitcoin Couple

Practically, this sounded a bit crazy, but it was not until the wedding of Prashant Sharma and Niti Shree did everyone believe that cryptocurrency wedding is indeed a possible affair. To be honest, their wedding was, perhaps, the world’s first Bitcoin wedding where all the guests and invitees were requested to bless the newly weds with cryptocurrencies. And to smoothen down the things, they even mentioned a step-by-step guide to donate fractions of Bitcoins through various cryptocurrency wallets.

Why a Bitcoin Wedding?

When asked about this innovative idea, the newlyweds were out of laugh and mentioned that such a cryptocurrency wedding saved the guests a lot of time and hassle to find the correct gift for the ceremony. Apart from that, it also reduced in North of pollution and personal dissatisfaction and receiving some improper gifts.

If stats are to be believed, it was later revealed that approximately 95% of the invitees opted to take a healthy part in such an event and donated and gifted the newlyweds with fractions of Bitcoins.

So, what does the future hold for Cryptocurrency Weddings?

According to some popular wedding planners, this trend has spread like a jungle fire and about 50% to 60% of their clients enquire about such a wedding planning. Apart from cryptocurrencies, the newlyweds are also open for gifts through wire transfers, wallet payment or other digital platform transactions.

So, whatever be the results, such an innovative idea of cryptocurrency weddings is here to stay and we are definitely going to hear about them a lot in the coming years.

If you are trading in the crypto world, you should be able to identify good and bad ICOs as there are many ICOs out there in the cryptosphere. Here are some of the signs which you should keep in mind while investing in new ICOs:

Huge Hard Cap

A very high cap of an ICO means that no one will be waiting to buy the tokens on the exchange and huge effort will be needed to make a secondary exchange.

Inexperienced Team

If the team of the ICOs is not experienced and not well known, then it is a sure sign that the ICO will be bad. You should know whether the team members are crypto advisers and whether any venture capitalist investing has been done.

Very Aggressive marketing

When the ICO is doing very belligerent marketing and you see Google remarketing banners and Facebook banners everywhere, then it is definitely a red signal. If the ICO is promising nice profits then it should not be trusted.

Low-quality discussions on the community forum

If the community does not create high-value discussions, then it is also a red light. You should ask questions on the Telegram, ICOs BitcoinTalk announcement thread, and gather as much information about the ICO as you can. If the quality of the response of the team is not proper or if they are avoiding your questions, then it is a bad sign.

A Need of the token

It is very important to understand that there is genuine need of the token in the project and the whole ecosystem should revolve around the token. If the token can be easily replaced with the help of a Bitcoin or Ethereum and the project will still work, then there is no need of the ICO and it will turn into a bad investment eventually. So, study the project carefully before investing.

Circulating Supply

You should be aware of the circulating supply of the token. You should be beware if a small percentage of the total tokens is only distributed in the ICO and there is no finite number of tokens. Also, if there is no lock up on the tokens reserved for the developing team, then it is suspicious.

Block chain technology and cryptocurrency are the new booming highlights and possibly the future of money in upcoming years. The technology is rapidly getting popular but often misunderstood because of its early development. There are tons of myths surrounding it because it is still young which gives rise to confusions and unclarified facts. It would rectify itself with time but if the myths still exist, the technology is at risk. So, here are a few popular myths that are affecting the technology. You can read more here.

Scalability in Block Chain:

The myth that block chain is scalable is false because of it is not as compared to other methods. It is scalable to some extent that includes minor payloads but even that goes away if you pile up more information.

Bitcoin and block chain are same:

Bitcoin is a popular form of cryptocurrency that is exchanged between two entities while block chain is a root tech which is used to make P2P transactions. Hence, they are definitely not the same thing. Find out more here.

Public information:

It is false that information that is available on a block chain is not publically disclosed. It is completely transparent and has not hinges attached to it.

Anonymous transactions:

Another false belief is that cryptocurrency transactions are anonymous. It is all in the public ledger and can be traced. Though, it cannot be reversed is the right fact.

Safe and Secure:

Although they are with all the latest tech and security patches, they are not exactly safe as they sound. There are various means of fraudulent acts and scams involved in it.

Block Chain only for Finance:

It is a false belief that it is only used for financial sector and cannot find a place elsewhere. This is proved false since in the current time, cryptocurrency transactions and use of block chain in fields like, healthcare, real estate, education and other renowned fields are being carried out.

The technology being new, would require time to be fully understood. However, it is important for people to clear the air every now and then against confusions.

Whenever a new industry is created, people oppose it in the beginning but gradually start accepting the same and then it becomes a revolution. The same thing happened with the internet and now it is happening with cryptocurrency. One such new vertical is the Initial coin offering (ICO).

ICO is a new vertical and many people believe that it is a fraud scheme devised to scam people and deprive them of their hard earned money. But that is not definitely the case.

What is ICO?

Initial Coin offering (ICO) as the name stands for it is the initial investment needed for starting a new blockchain based venture. It is the unique way of accumulating funds from different investors for developing a new technology and platform.

The new start-ups who set up an ICO distribute their cryptocurrencies to investors in exchange of their investment. This primary investment is seed money for the project which is used in the development, marketing, promotion and maintenance of the POC (proof-of-concept) and the product.

How does the project work?

The projects are DApps or protocols which use a specific cryptocurrency (token).

Announcing on Bitcoin Talk Forum (News)

The first step in the process is that the cryptocurrency announces itself and makes its presence felt. Vital information about the cryptocurrency like the website, whitepaper, work, development, experience, purpose are all displayed in this step. The main motive is to create hype about the cryptocurrency and making people aware of their proof of concept.

Getting the ICO stared on the Bitcoin Forum

The next step is announcing the cryptocurrency on the Bitcoin forum and luring early investors in the project. This reflects information regarding the ICO like timelines, the supply of tokens, the proportion of tokens, the amount of tokens used for development, the currency for investors and other necessary information for the investors is shared in this stage.

Starting the Project

Once the ICO is complete, the actual project starts blooming. The token gets listed in major cryptocurrency exchanges. The investors can trade their tokens and the value of the cryptocurrencies keep fluctuating from this stage onwards.

Today, cryptocurrencies markets have gained enormous attention and every second person is buying Bitcoins. But what is the basic and fundamental use of buying Bitcoins?

Here are some of the important ways in which you can use your Bitcoins to buy the things of your choice or services which you need in your daily life. Here are top websites which accept cryptocurrencies as a mode of payment.

1. Microsoft: The giant IT hub is accepting Bitcoins in exchange for Xbox and Windows Operating system.

Expedia: Expedia is a famous and popular travel company which give you a total list of flight and hotel prices for its users on demand.

NameCheap: This website accepts payments in the form of Bitcoins for web-hosting services and domains.

4.KFC Canada: KFC has started accepting Bitcoins for their delicious crunchy snacks which is a sign of mass acceptance of the cryptocurrencies.

Subway: The fast food franchise chain selling sandwiches, subs, salads and snacks has also started accepting Bitcoins. As these food restaurants start accepting Bitcoins, then the popularity and acceptance of Bitcoins have increased.

Overstock: Overstock is an online shopping store accepting Bitcoins where a user can sell virtually anything, anywhere in the world.

It is undeniable that the current market situation is causing some nervousness among investors in crypto. This has been mainly concentrated throughout the ranks of new investors, although even some of the more experienced have begun to express a degree of concern.

This leaves many on the outside who want to be involved, and many who are already involved in the sector, wondering how to best protect themselves in the current situation and be adequately prepared for future similar moments.

Know the Market Well

Before getting involved in any project regardless of whether it is crypto related or not, you will have performed due-diligence and at least know the basics of how to act in that market. A little akin to not studying for a school exam, failure to research is simply setting you up to fail.

There are a diverse range of resources available to collect information on the crypto and blockchain sectors. One of the best though is a new knowledge sharing platform launched on the EOS network called Trybe. This is a platform which literally incentivizes the sharing of knowledge in the crypto/blockchain fields. Besides the accumulation of knowledge, how better to learn about a market than within that exact market.

Take Calculated Risks Only

There is a time and a place for taking risks. These can pay off handsomely at times and are absolutely required in certain situations. A fluctuating market which is mostly downward trending though, is no such place to be taking risks. This is almost as true for hardened professional traders as it is for the average man in the street. You have to know when to be patient and just ride out the storm.

Be Willing to Take a Loss

Finally, it is easy to repeat something you will hear in every forum across the sector. Never invest more than you are willing to lose. This expression is still as true within the crypto market as it would have been at the very beginning of investment history.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. The same is true of your ICO project whatever it may be. Rome was built though. Every project starts out as a concept, an idea in one’s mind. The moment you plan to raise money or use the capital of others within your project, it has to be more than just an idea.

This issue has been plaguing new ICOs which have been coming on stream to raise capital, and it is what results in such a high failure rate at reaching investment targets. Investors want to see something real, something which is quantifiable for their investment. Unfortunately, many ICOs are running on concept alone which results in a plethora of problems.

Lack of Trust among Investors

This is huge. The lack of a prototype or MVP (minimum viable product) creates an environment of distrust among investors. This may be completely incorrect but many investors have a criteria they want to satisfy in order to invest in a project and a working model is right at the top of this list.

Lack of Respect in the Community

The crypto community is increasing in number and influence by the day thanks to platforms such as Telegram. Their positive feedback can prove key to unlocking the door for your ICO to achieve its investment targets. If you are operating on concept alone however, be prepared to have holes picked in your project. The issue with this is you have nothing to physically back up your claims to success besides more claims.

Motivation Moving Forward

For many projects, development of an MVP is a huge milestone. This signifies both to yourself and your target audience of investors that you are not only passionate and willing to devote time and energy to the project, but that you actually believe it can work. This ultimately means that even if you happened to fall short on your investment goals, you still have a core motivation to continue with the project.

In Summary, an MVP is becoming more and more necessary to differentiate your project and make it stand out from the crowd of others which are competing for the same investment capital.